Junaid Khan praises Mohammad Amir’s show but his hope was dashed by Pakistan batsmen

He might have narrowly missed a place in Pakistan’s the World Cup squad but Junaid Khan is following the tournament closely and congratulate the side when it bowled well against Australia in Taunton on Wednesday. Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss and sent Aaron Finch’s men into bat and from a difficult position, his bowlers did well to restrict Australia to 307 in less than 50 overs. Mohammad Amir produced an excellent performance and bagged a fifer. However, Pakistan could not have the last laugh and lost the game by 41 runs.

Amir, who was not picked in the preliminary World Cup squad, made it in after Pakistan did badly against England in a limited-over series ahead of the big event. Along with Wahab Riaz and Asif Ali, Amir replaced the likes of Junaid, Abid Ali and Faheem Ashraf. Though the left-arm pacer came into the tournament with a poor form (five wickets from 14 games at the stage), he has done well in the World Cup so far. Including his performance on Wednesday, Amir now has picked up 10 wickets in the competition in just three games.

Amir broke the Australian opening pair

He was the first bowler to break the Australian opening partnership of 146 runs between Finch (82) and David Warner (107) and did a decent job later as Australia slumped to 307 all out from 189 for 1 in the 29th over. Shaheen Afridi took two wickets while Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Hafeez took one apiece.

Junaid, who came close to playing his first World Cup for the third time but missed narrowly, congratulated Amir for taking the five-wicket haul which was also his first in ODIs. He also wished other Pakistani bowlers and hoped that the batsmen would do their job after the bowlers did theirs. However, Junaid’s hope was dashed as none of the Pakistani batsmen continued to play like an innings like Warner and left it for others to do the job. Riaz came up with a 39-ball 45 at No.9 but it was not enough.

Warner also praised Amir for his show. He said the left-arm seamer bowled really well, especially bowling a Test line and length which he called “very brave”.